For Cherokee, this is a chance to add to the legacy. For Bordentown, it's a chance to start one.

The Cherokee and Bordentown boys will both race this morning in invitational 3,200-meter relay sections at the 111th annual Penn Relays at Franklin Field, Bordentown in the second of two small-school races at 9:35 a.m. and Cherokee in the second of two large-school races at 9:55 a.m.

This is Cherokee's fourth trip to Penn for an invitational relay under coach Steve Shaklee, its third in the 3,200 relay. Bordentown has never competed at Penn in an invitational race.

"It's really big for us to carry on the Cherokee tradition," said junior Will Andes, the County Open 800 champ, who will anchor. "We talk about it all the time. Shak even gave us copies of some articles on Cherokee teams that ran at Penn in past years to motivate us.

"We don't have any one amazing half-miler, but we have four good guys who are all in great shape and ready to go."

Mike Candy will lead off for the Chiefs, followed by Tom Yersak, James Maneval and Andes. That quartet ran 8:00.8 - third-fastest in New Jersey this year - at a meet in Haddonfield three weeks ago to qualify for Penn.

"We're ready to run fast," said Andes, who ran 1:56.69 last year, making him New Jersey's third-fastest sophomore. "We've had some great workouts and we're all in better shape than when we ran eight flat. We're definitely ready to run in the low 7:50s."

Shaklee was encouraged by his half-milers' performance in a split 800 workout at practice last Friday. In the split 800, each runner does three sets of 300 meters, 200 meters and 200 meters, with a short rest between each.

"The split 800 definitely was encouraging," Andes said. "We all came out of that with high expectations.

"Making it here isn't enough. If we don't qualify, we'll all be upset. And just making the finals isn't enough. We want to get there and do well. We're never really satisfied. That's one thing about us. If we do well, we want to do better. This is our chance to shine."

Bordentown's lineup couldn't be more different than Cherokee's. The Scotties have two developing half-milers in sophomores Melvin Carter and Steve Turgyan, one very good one in Fred Mendenhall and one of the nation's best in All-America Rob Novak, who has run 1:51.39. Bordentown clocked 8:09.3 at Haddonfield on April 7 to qualify for Penn.

"This is a big deal for us," said Novak, who split 1:52.9 in the qualifier. "We've never run in anything like this and I don't think the other guys have any idea how many people will be there or what it will be like. I'm doing my best to prepare them because the atmosphere is unbelievable.

"This is such a big meet for us, even bigger than nationals. We can't wait."

Bordentown hadn't run under 8:26 in school history before it popped its 8:09. That's the fastest time this year by a New Jersey school smaller than Group 4 or Parochial A.